This invention relates to an apparatus and method for inspection of rail tracks and, more particularly, to radar-based apparatus and method for inspecting the operational condition of a rail track.
The operational condition of a railroad track, also termed rail track, is great importance to the rail transportation industry. Problems relating to the operational condition of the rail track can be very costly to rail transportation entities if the operational condition of the rail track prevents railcars from traveling on the rail track and renders the rail track out of service. Specifically, it is important to determine the operational condition of the rail track before and after a rail car has traveled on the rail track such that any required maintenance can be performed to decrease the amount of time that the rail track is out of service.
In particular, there is a desire to inspect and diagnose the operational condition of the rail track in real time to determine the condition of the rail track before or after a railcar has traveled on the rail track. In addition, there is also a desire to diagnose imperfections in the rail track such as, for example, the presence of cracks and inchoate separations in the rail track, since these imperfections render the rail track out of service.
In one representative embodiment, an apparatus for inspecting an operational condition of a rail track from a railcar traveling on the rail track is provided. The apparatus comprises an antenna positioned on the railcar that directs radar signals toward the rail track. The antenna also collects radar signals returned from the rail track. A radar transceiver is connected to the antenna and transmits the radar signals to the antenna. The radar transceiver receives radar returned signals from an interaction of the radar signal with the rail track. A controller is connected to the radar transceiver and controls the transmission of the radar signals from the transceiver and the receipt of the radar returned signals. A signal processing unit is connected to the controller. A sensor unit is connected to the signal processing unit for supplying input data to the signal processing unit. The signal processing unit processes at least the input data and the radar returned signal to produce processor output data. A database is connected to the signal processing unit and stores the processor output data. The database also archives previously processed processor output data. The signal processing unit compares the processor output data with the previously processed processor output data to determine the operational condition of the rail track.
In another representative embodiment, the method for inspecting an operational condition of a rail track is provided. The method comprises the steps of emitting a radar signal from a railcar toward the rail track. The emitted radar signal interacts with the rail track. A radar returned signal is received from an interaction of the emitted radar signal with the rail track. The radar returned signal is processed to produce processor output data. An operational condition of the rail track is determined based on the processing the radar returned signal.